This Manual lays little claim to originality. Its essential features are based on the recommendations in the Report on Geography of the Committee of Ten. A scheme of laboratory exercises, substantially the same as that proposed in this Report, was, for some fifteen years, the basis of the work in elementary meteorology done in Harvard College under the direction of Professor William M. Davis. The plan proposed by the Committee of Ten has been thoroughly tested by the writer during the past five years, not only in college classes, but also in University Extension work among school teachers, and the present book embodies such modifications of that scheme and additions to it as have been suggested by experience. Emphasis is laid throughout this Manual on the larger lessons to be learned from the individual exercises, and on the relations of various atmospheric phenomena to human life and activities. No attempt is made to specify in exactly what school years this work should be undertaken. At present, and until meteorology attains a recognized position as a school study, teachers must obviously be left to decide this matter according to the opportunities offered in each school. The general outline of the work, however, as herein set forth, is intended to cover the grammar and the high school years, and may readily be adapted by the teacher to fit the circumstances of any particular case. This book contains specific instructions to the student as to the use of the instruments; the carrying out of meteorological observations; the investigation of special simple problems by means of the instruments; and the practical use of the daily weather maps. The Notes for the Teacher, at the end of the book, are explanatory, and contain suggestions which may be useful in directing the laboratory work of the class. It has been the privilege of the author during the past ten years to study the science of meteorology, and the methods of teaching that science, under the constant direction of Professor William Morris Davis, of Harvard University. To Professor Davis the author is further indebted for many valuable suggestions in connection with the arrangement and treatment of the subject-matter of this book. Thanks are due also to Mr. William H. Snyder, of Worcester (Mass.) Academy, and to Mr. John W. Smith, Local Forecast Official of the United States Weather Bureau, Boston, Mass., for valued criticisms. ROBERT DEC. WARD. HARVARD UNIVERSITY, CAMBRIDGE, MASS., September, 1899. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. PAGE THE IMPORTANCE OF METEOROLOGY: ITS RELATIONS TO MAN xi PART I.——NON-INSTRUMENTAL OBSERVATIONS. CHAPTER I.——OBSERVATIONS OF TEMPERATURE, WIND DIRECTION AND VELOCITY, STATE OF SKY, AND RAINFALL 1